Be My Paris?
by Icywingsoffire
Summary: Post Fang. After Fang leaves, a distraught Max finds comfort close to home, and maybe a new lover. But what happens when Fang returns? Who will Max choose?Read and you shall find out! Max x Iggy. "Fang" Spoilers!
1. Chapter 1

Be my Paris? By Icywingsoffire

I sat on the railing with my legs dangling over the sides, gazing out over the moonlit tree tops. The winds, just cool enough to hint at the oncoming winter, picked up my hair and tossed it gently behind me. If Fang were here, he would run his fingers through it, and tell me how beautiful it was. How beautiful I was.

But Fang wasn't here. Fang had been gone for 2 months, 13 days, and 4 hours. 106,800 minutes ago, he left me. He left a note and went off to god knows where. 6,408,000 seconds ago he left.

So why did it still hurt so badly?

I heard the screen door slide open and closed, and footsteps on the wooden deck. _Jeb,_ I thought. No one in the flock would try to disturb me when I was in one of my moods. Except Fang.

"Not now, Jeb."

"Shi- Max, I didn't know you were out here." It was Iggy's voice, not Jeb's. "I'll leave." The footsteps retreated.

"No, Ig, you're fine. I don't own the deck." All of this wallowing wasn't good for me, or the flock. I knew it, but I hadn't quite gotten to the point where I could be Max again yet.

Iggy stood silently. I still didn't look at him. A tear rolled down my face, and I watched it fall to the forest floor. "Are you, uh, okay?" Iggy quietly asked.

I gave a half-choked laugh. "Okay? How can I be okay?" When Fang left, he left the whole flock, but he really left _me_. And my heart knew it. I saw him everywhere we went, heard his laughter coming from other rooms, and woke each morning reaching out for him. He was my right hand man, my only love. And now he was gone.

I felt, rather than heard Iggy come closer. "He did what he had to. For the flock. For you."

"It doesn't feel that way." I looked at him. He was wearing pajama pants and no shirt. Not all that unusual, since that's what the guys wore to bed year round, and at 1:30 in the morning, he'd probably expected to be alone on the deck.

"I know." As he said the words, his face matched them. They weren't the empty pacifications of the other people in my life. Iggy knew what I meant. "When someone can't be with you, even for the greater good, it hurts."

"It hurts a lot, Ig."

"Yeah. It does." His jaw clenched for a second, as if _he_ was feeling pain.

I wondered who had left him. Who had been unable to be with him? How could he know my pain? "Ig?"

"Yeah?" There was a visible effort to look casual as Iggy came to straddle the railing on my left, facing me. The only sign of pain left was in his sweet, blind eyes.

"Who-" I chickened out. "Who told you that you could be so smart?"

"I learned it all from a fantastic woman."

"Oh yeah? Where'd you find one of those?"

"Not too far from home, Max." There was hesitation in his eyes. Almost fear. But mostly just sadness. "Everything I've ever learned has come from the most amazing woman on earth. You."

If it weren't for the serious expression, I would have waited for the punch line. But instead, I just watched as Iggy leaned forward.

When his lips first touched mine, they were barely there, just a brush of butterfly wings. But then something inside of me sparked, and I leaned in, too. Iggy gasped, and kissed me harder, but still gently. My mouth opened, and his tongue darted in, tasting me. Hands wove themselves into my hair, holding my face to his. Something in my stomach jumped uncomfortably.

A pulled back, and Iggy immediately released me. I pressed a hand to my lips and felt tears running down my face.

For just a second, I had forgotten who Iggy was. I'd felt soft, warm lips on mine, and I had forgotten Fang. It was something in the way Iggy made me feel. When I kissed Fang, it was a rush of heat and love and passion. But Iggy, he made me feel safe, loved, comforted. A steady, warm candle to Fang's hot, fleeting fireworks.

I climbed off of the railing and turned away from Iggy. I heard him a few feet behind me, standing now as well. "Max…" He whispered. "I'm sorry."

My heart squeezed. What could I say to him? 'Thanks for the kisses but I don't love you as much as I love Fang'? But maybe that wasn't true. A different kind of love. No more, no less. Just different.

"I'm not." I turned and kissed him again, softly.

Iggy would never be Fang's Romeo to my Juliet. But maybe, he could be my Paris.

A/N: As a totally pro- Fax reader, I didn't want to undermine their love, but Max was lonely and Iggy is just too darn cute to leave hanging. I could write more, if you guys want. Reviews would me amazing!


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning I was almost afraid to go to breakfast.

I couldn't stop thinking about last night. Sure, it had only been a couple of kisses, but he was _Iggy_, and I was _Max_. Not an inherent problem, but the shallow part of me was worried about what the flock would say. First Fang and I were all over each other, to the extent that the flock actually kicked me out of leadership. What would they say if two months later I was "seeing" another of what used to be only brothers to me? They'd probably think I was some kind of flock whore.

So when I walked into the kitchen, I was relieved that Iggy didn't sweep me into his arms and kiss the heck outta me like Fang sometimes used to. No, he just smiled in my general direction and put a plate of waffles at my place at the table.

I was, of course, the last one up. Always have been, always will be. After all, I work my butt off every day to keep five bird kids, two dogs, and a handful of humans safe from not only the usual struggles of life- starvation, homelessness, sickness, etc.- but also the dangers presented to the Flock and Co. by the crazy scientists that popped up wherever we went. It was tough work, and by the end of the day, I needed my sleep.

Dylan was chatting to Iggy about what went on in some basketball game last night. He didn't even look at me, which was a relief. When he'd joined the flock shortly before Fang left, he'd always been going on about how we were made for each other. And although he was an exceptionally sexy man, I did _not_ need another boy in my already crowded "boy trouble" equation. And since I made an effort every frikkin day to keep the flock alive, I still hadn't quite forgiven him for his attempted suicide stunt a few months back.

Angel, sitting "innocently" and eating her sugary cereal, looked up at me. The scarily adult look in her eyes made me stifle a moan- of course she would already know. Her ignorance would make things too simple. I tried to keep my mind blank. She had once been my baby, but now she was my biggest rival, and what I considered to be a threat to the flock's well-being, since the _last_ time she'd tried to take over the flock, she'd taken them on a publicity spree of all things.

Nudge and Iggy were in the living room watching cartoons. It was a pretty typical day in the life of the flock. I tried to calmly eat my waffles without appearing too guilty. But I could see by the looks everyone was giving me that they were suspicious. Probably because I wasn't ordering anyone around or proposing some boring plan.

I decided to take action before anyone started asking too many questions. "Let's go for a flight, guys. Get some exercise." The flock agreed, and so we all set off across the trees. We flew in a "v" formation, with Iggy on my right and Gazzy behind him, and Nudge and Angel on my left. I of course was on point, and Dylan flew a little above us, to look out for any threats.

My wings were almost close enough to touch Iggy's on the downstroke. As the wind in my wings carried away my inhibitions, I smiled at Iggy. Even though he couldn't see me, he happened to look at me at the exact same moment. His smile made feel stronger, steadier.

More like Max.

Later that week, Iggy and I found ourselves alone in the kitchen. We had been carefully avoiding any more contact than normal all week. It wasn't that I was ashamed of my new feelings for Iggy, I was just worried that it was too soon for the flock to accept. What would they say? I knew that Iggy disagreed, but he understood my feelings, like he always did. So for all those long days, we had shared only smiles and a few small kisses when no one was looking.

We were clearing the table together. It was inevitable, you would think, that our hands would touch at some point. But it still took me by surprise when his warm fingers touched my skin.

I looked up at Iggy. His super- senses must have been tuned in to me, because he looked up too. His pretty blue eyes, so much more expressive than Fang's had ever been, stared unseeingly at me, Funny how someone who was blind saw me so much clearer than Fand ever did. Iggy didn't see me as another girl he could just use and then leave before things got too serious. He saw me as someone to love and stay with _forever_.

I was kissing Iggy then, unable to keep myself from him anymore. His arms wrapped around me, and mine went around his neck. Somehow Iggy managed to make the kiss intense without touching me anywhere or making me feel like I was suffocating. It was oh, so sweet, and I didn't want it to end. Iggy seemed to agree, or so his lips told me.

But it did end, when Dylan entered the room. "Oh, crap," he muttered. "Sorry, sorry."

He turned around to leave, and I got the strangest sense of déjà vu when I said, "No, Dylan, it's okay."

He looked at Iggy and I, who had started but not separated at the sound of his voice. "Don't worry about it," Iggy said, his voice a little husky.

"Dylan? If you could, well, keep this on the down low for a while? We just- we don't want to hurt or confuse the kids with all of this, you know what I mean?" I swallowed.

"You really don't give the flock enough credit if you think that they don't already know about you two." Dylan smirked a little at us.

Now, I normally consider myself a fairly intuitive person, so this one caught me off guard. "What?" My voice remained low in volume but shot up about two octaves in pitch.

Dylan gave me a funny look. "You've been avoiding each other like crazy all week, which means that you're either fighting or overcompensating for something. And when you _are_ together, you're grinning so hard that it hurts _my_ cheeks just to lok at you, so you're not fighting. It's not that hard to figure out. Even Gazzy could tell that there was something going on with you two."

"Oh on," I said. And here I thought we were being subtle.

"How are they taking it?" Iggy asked, voicing my thoughts for me.

"It's alright, Max," Angel said from the doorway. "No one blames you or anything." I searched her for the evil Angel that sometimes lurked there, but all I found was her sweet side- for now.

"Yeah, I think you guys are _so_ cute together!" Nudge gushed from behind her.

Then Gazzy showed up, too. "I still can't believe Iggy likes _girls_." He made an 'eww' face that had us all laughing.

"Well, then," Iggy said. "I guess it's okay for me to do this." He gave me a sweet kiss that was long enough to make me blushing and breathless, but not so long as to make me uncomfortable. That was how it was with Iggy- never too much, never too little.

I looked at the smiling faces around me and felt briefly ashamed of my doubt for them. No matter who I chose to love, we would always be flock.

And that's the sweetest kind of family there is.

A/N: I know that sounds like a "the end" but it's not. So hang in there, and please review! Also, 10 points to whoever catches my Breaking Benjamin reference first!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Okay, folks, keep your eyes open for a few hidden nuggets of culture references. There's one musical-turned-movie quote, and one Disney-movie quote, and part of a lyrics to a modern Christian praise and worship song! Be the first to find them and be rewarded with eternal glory!

It was a few days later when everything changed.

Or at least, it felt like a few days. In reality, Fang had been gone for 365 days. 525,600 minutes ago he left me. He left a note and went off to god knows where. 31,536,000 seconds ago he left.

Things were going smoothly. Too smoothly, I thought in hindsight. Iggy was amazing, the kindest guy you'd ever meet. He understood what I was feeling, and he let me work through my Fang-related crap in privacy while still managing to be there for me. I think he knew that I still hadn't gotten over Fang, but he was okay with that.

Which only made him that much more amazing.

And the kids were being so good about it all. I could hardly believe that I'd ever been afraid to tell them. They all seemed happier when I was with Iggy than they ever were when I was with Fang.

I had a theory about that. When I was with Fang, the relationship was so confusing and stressful that it was draining me just to maintain it. Sure, I was crazy in love with him, but _being_ with him was like constantly walking on eggshells, and _that's_ why I couldn't focus on leading the flock like I should have.

But being with Iggy was so easy, so natural. It's like he was an emotional sponge, absorbing all of the negative things I feel and replacing them with love and understanding. He was so perfect for me, we were like yin and yang, separate but unable to exist outside of each other. With Iggy, instead of draining me, he filled me up. The flock was happier and safer than ever, with Iggy by my side.

And another difference- because of the, er… disapproval of some of the other flock members, Fang and I always had to keep our relationship under the table, so to speak. But no one, not even Jeb, disapproved of Iggy, so we were free to do whatever we wanted in front of the flock- or at least, what was child appropriate.

Not that we did anything that was inappropriate, even away from little eyes. Yes, we may be teenagers, but neither of us wanted to go too far. Me because I was still a little scarred over the way Fang had pushed me farther and farther, and Iggy because he saw the fear in my eyes when we were alone. We'd gotten to second base once or twice, but Iggy had respected my boundaries and backed off when I got overwhelmed.

God, he was a great guy.

But about that change. Just when things were going great, when everyone was happy, Murphy's law took effect : Whatever can go wrong will, and at the worst possible time.

Fang came back.

The flock was having a picnic on the porch. I was just scolding Gazzy for throwing potato salad at Dylan when Angel spoke up.

"Max, look up!"

I did, and I saw a tiny black dot in the sky, growing closer every second. "Inside, now!" I snapped, and everyone obeyed, no longer in question of my authority.

They were inside in seconds, and I stayed on the deck, watching the approaching creature. From a distance, I thought it was a crow. It had these pure black wings-

I said a very naughty word.

I had to scrape my jaw off of the floor when Fang landed neatly on the railing. If I didn't know him better, I would've thought that he'd done it for dramatics. His dark hair blew in the wind like an avenging angel. He was even more gorgeous than I'd remembered.

"Hello Max."

"Hey." What else was there to say? "What are you doing here, Fang?" A small voice in the back of my mind screamed DANGER!

"I came to see my flock." I could feel them gathered behind me.

"They're not your flock anymore, Fang. Not after you _left us_." I felt a hand on my shoulder. Jeb. No doubt trying to stop me from ruining the chances of him being able to put together his super flock again.

"Fang, welcome back."

Fang ignored Jeb, his near-black eyes boring into mine. "Don't say that Max."

"It's true, Fang. Flock means no one gets left behind. So I guess that means we aren't your flock anymore." I told it to him straight, the way I'd rehearsed. I knew this day would come eventually. I'd just hoped it would take longer to come than it did.

"Max, I came back for you." Fang stepped forward quickly and grabbed my face, pulling me into a rough kiss.

My head spun. Part of me was elated, in paradise. The dormant part of me that was devoted to my first love, Fang, was awakened, and was satisfied to stay in that moment forever.

But there was a small, still voice in my head, and it sounded a lot like Iggy. It said to let Fang go.

And it was the voice of truth.

I pushed him away with a strength I didn't know I possessed, sending him reeling backwards. As his eyes widened in surprise and anger, the part of me that still loved him, still called him my own, died.

I reached back and grabbed Iggy's hand. He came to stand beside me, and we (well, I) watched as revulsion and anger grew in his eyes. "Him?" Fang spat, glaring at Iggy.

"He's more of a man than you'll ever be." As soon as the words left my mouth, my instincts screamed at me to get out of there, ASAP.

"Let's go. Fang, leave, you aren't welcome here anymore."

"Never!" Fang was now the dark angel he'd always appeared to be. He drew himself up to his full height, and looked at me with eyes that would bring empires to their knees. "I will never leave, Max."

Heat rushed through me, burning away sympathy and compassion. There was now only me, and the flock, and an indescribable power that hummed in my bones and sung in my veins.

"Leave. NOW!" My voice was impossibly loud, echoing off of the trees and sending birds flying off into the fading sunlight. Fang dropped to his knees, the authority and raw, ancient power in my commands buckling him into complete submission.

The others had fallen as well, leaving me in the center of a ring of destruction my new power had wrought. My heart twitched at the shock in their faces, and I felt the old Max whisper in my mind's ear, calling me back to a place where love existed, where I could command without hurting those I loved.

"You should go now, Fang."

He was unable to resist. Not because of whatever had happened just then, but because he saw the truth in my eyes. He was no longer flock. He was no longer welcome here.

And in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

A/N: Welllll? Did you like it? You there! Yes, you! Were you thinking about just reading but not reviewing! Aha! I knew you were! Don't even think about it! Have a heart! Be a friend! REVIEW! And don't forget about my challenge- no one caught the last one (Song title "Evil Angel" By Breaking Benjamin)! Review please!


	4. Chapter 4

It took me a while to process what had happened.

Basically, I'd gotten so upset that I'd developed some new, crazy authority over the flock. A scary power. And I'd commanded Fang to leave, told him that he wasn't part of the flock anymore. And he'd obeyed.

What. The. Heck.

As if that all wasn't enough, add to it the fact that now the flock was giving me all kinds of weird looks, ranging from scared to shocked to worried.

Way to go, Max. You have now frightened four bird kids, two humans, and two dogs just because you wanted your jealous ex- boyfriend to go away. Well done.

The only one who wasn't afraid of me was Iggy. He was the one who was worried, but not for his own safety. He saw what Fang's visit had done to me emotionally. I was upset at myself, for scaring the flock, and even for having been angry enough to do something so stupid. If only I'd been cool-headed, then maybe none of this would have happened.

Iggy was getting to be darn near psychic these days. "It's not your fault, Max," he told me softly one night as we were climbing into bed. We shared a room now- still nothing physical between us, but I liked to have him close to me when I slept. Blind or not, he protected me. From myself.

I sighed. "Then whose fault is it, Ig?" I asked. "Fang's?"

Iggy seemed to give it some thought. "As much as I'd like to blame it all on him, I don't think it's his either. At least not entirely."

A put my head on his chest and squeezed my eyes shut, wishing that my brain would shut up for once. In the three weeks that had passed since Fang's return, not a day passed where I wasn't constantly tormented by it, through headaches, sleeplessness, and the strangest urge to take off into the sky and never return.

"I can't keep doing this, Ig."

"Doing what? This? Us?" His arms tightened around me, as if he was unwilling to let me go.

"No! God, no. Not us. You're all that I have right now. I meant _this_," I said, gesturing around us. "Life. This situation. How can I be the so-called leader of a dysfunctional flock that's afraid of me." My eyes got hot, and I tried not to blink so that the tears would dry up. "I don't want this power. I wish Fang had never come back."

"The power isn't the problem here, baby. The problem is that you're afraid of yourself."

I looked up at Iggy, not understanding.

"Your new ability didn't scare us. It was just a physical manifestation of what authority you already had over us. But you're afraid of it, because you don't like it or understand it." He seemed to look right at me with his unseeing eyes. "We may just be bird kids, put we're pretty smart when it comes to reading each other, Max. Even the kids picked up on what you were feeling. And you know how absorbent kids are. They soak up everything you pour into them. As long as you let them know that you're coming to terms with it, they'll be fine."

He kissed me softly on the forehead, one hand gently rubbing my back in comfort. "It'll all work out Max, don't worry. It takes more than something like this to keep us down, babe."

And something inside of me said that he was right.

We were in the same position, my head on Iggy's chest and his arms around me, when we were woken up the next morning by Nudge. She came in and immediately started motormouthing, completely disregarding social norms and years of my attempts to teach the kids manners. She was fearless in climbing up onto the foot of the bed and chatting away as Iggy and I tried to ignore her.

After a while, I figured that I should pay attention. She was talking on and on about how we needed to clean the house, which struck me as odd. Sure, I had _tried_ to instill in the flock a basic need for cleanliness, but up until now, it hadn't seemed to take. So I listened more. The reason, she explained, was because Jeb had gotten an email from Fang, saying that he was bringing his new flock for a visit. I mentally nodded. Of course we needed to clean, if Fang's flock was-

Wait. What?

I sat straight up in bed, ignoring Iggy's protests. "Nudge, start over. No, not about the cleaning. About Fang and his flock coming to visit."

Nudge saw that the crap was really about to hit the fan, and quickly referred me to Jeb. So I dragged Iggy out of bed and into the kitchen, where Jeb already had two mugs of coffee poured for us. Obviously, he knew we'd be coming to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.

The long and short of it all was that Fang had rescued a few mutants from a small branch of the school that was functioning as a separate entity in Nevada. It had been about six months, and Fang and four refugees were now living in Georgia, waiting around to see what they were supposed to do.

"Okay, great, but why are they coming here?" It came out a little ruder than I'd intended, but I let the question stand to be answered.

"Well, after a few months of waiting around, they realized that they weren't accomplishing anything. Or at least Fang realized it. So they came looking for, well, something to do."

"And we happened to be the place they decided to look for a humanitarian hobby?"

Iggy spoke up for the first time all morning. "Max, you're the one who's supposed to save the world. If anybody can give a willing flock something to do towards saving the world, it's gonna be you."

I chewed that over for a minute. They had a point. Not that I knew what the heck I would tell them to do, but… The little voice inside my head (not _the_ voice, just a voice- not that I'm schizophrenic or anything) told me that it was the right thing to have them come here. Firstly because I needed to apologize to Fang for the nasty things I'd said. And secondly, I needed to show everyone in the flock (myself included) that I wasn't afraid of Fang, and I could still function as a leader. And thirdly, I was curious to meet these new Fang Flock members.

Not that I really had a choice in the matter, since apparently, Jeb had invited him to come with his flock and stay for a few days. They were due this evening for dinner.

"Alright," I said, and Jeb seemed relieved that for the first time in a long time, I'd taken his guidance without arguing or throwing a fit.

Iggy, too looked pleased. "You need this, Max," he whispered in my ear. "You need closure with Fang."

I knew he was right, but that sure as heck didn't make me feel any farther away from barfing.

It was gonna be a long day.

A/N: I know that one was kind of a tease, since it was mostly Max working through emotional stuff and exposition for the next chapter, but what can I say? What's done is done. I uber-promise you'll like next one!

Ah yes, the eternal glory of finding my hidden culture references! The lovely reviewer Myrrh has found two out of three from last week! The first was "525,600 minutes," which is a lyric from the song 'Seasons of Love' from the musical turned movie 'Rent', which rocks, btw. And the second they found was the spinoff of the quote "Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind. Or forgotten." From the Disney movie 'Lilo and Stitch'. So go ahead and bask in your eternal glory! The other ref was playing off of 'the voice of truth,' a ref to a Casting Crowns song, in case anyone was wondering. XD

Want a piece of the glory! There's still hope for you! Just find the VERY brief, VERY obscure ref to the entertainment TV show 'The Soup', which I don't think even plays in non- US countries. But do not lose heart! Search for it and obtain the same glory that others have!

I'll shut up now. But thank you, everyone for your support! You rock, and I love you all!

Truly yours,

Icy-Spicysocks


	5. Es muerte, senor

So, I know it's been a really long time since I've updated. And there's an equally long story to justify that, but I'll spare you. In short… I've lost this plotline completely. I mean… it's just dead :/ I'm sorry. :(

But if anyone wants, I'm willing to put it up for adoption! Free to a good home- any takers?

Message me. Peace, yall.

Icy-Spicy


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